


ship to cope

by Caracalliope



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Epilogues Dirk Strider, Friend Fiction, IN SPACE!, Implied/Referenced Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Implied/Referenced Incest, Revenge, Robot Rose, Role Reversal, The Homestuck Epilogues: Meat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 20:10:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20014114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caracalliope/pseuds/Caracalliope
Summary: This is Rose's ship now, and no piece of writing can escape Rose's scrutiny.





	ship to cope

> Dave's impertinent boywife looked up at him with those wild, blood orange eyes.
> 
> "Are you going to fuck me already," he chittered, deliberately ungrateful and uncouth. "Or do you want me to go out and find a real man?"
> 
> Dave was patient as cold steel. He tolerated this shit because he had nothing to prove to anyone. But there was a limit to how much he could forgive, so he reached for his blade

  
When Dirk hears me approaching, he rips the page out of his notebook. His reaction time is getting worse, along with the quality of his prose. He still has time to swallow the page, but he hesitates. His decision-making processes are deteriorating too. Terezi can make fun of him later, for failing at a task as simple as eating paper.

I hold his wrist. He never deigned to equip my fingertips with sensors, so I don’t know if it’s hurting him. Of course you know.

ROSE: Drop it. 

I make sure he understands that this is the tone I would use with an animal \- no, a pet - that brought home something disgusting.

I take the paper out of his grip and read the words out loud to him. I drop my voice to imitate Karkat’s, making it clear how far it is from a chitter. At the last line, I squeeze him harder.

ROSE: Is that really how you think of Dave? 

DIRK: Of course not. It’s self-parody. I am deliberately trying to goad you into one of your puerile, shallow analyses. You already know that, Rose. 

ROSE: I am getting tired of you telling me what I know. 

Although he tries to hide it, Dirk flinches. I let him go. Even with his god-body, it took only two days for him to learn defensive responses to my anger. And I never hurt him more than he wanted me to.

That’s a comforting lie.

ROSE: That’s a fucked-up truth, and so is the fact that you only wrote this substandard piece of fluff because you wanted me to see it. You want me to condemn you for it. 

DIRK: Ah, there we fucking go. Amateur psychotherapy and literary analysis hour, everyone put on your shittin’ pants. 

Dirk has not been able to find his pants for over two days now. He sits down, because I allow it, and he picks up a pen, because I want him to.

ROSE: Let’s try that again, but make it good this time. 


End file.
